It wasn’t the smoothest of starts for the ESA Lady Falcons soccer team this season, as they were 3-4 after seven games.

They’ve recovered since and are now 10-5-2 on the season, which includes a 2-0-1 record in district play and outscoring their opponents by 30 goals this season.

It’s starting to look like the Falcons’ mediocre start was just the product of a tough schedule, as head coach Stephen Devine said that the team is in a good rhythm right now.

“We try to possess the ball more and operate in certain places of the field,” Devine said. “We weren’t being creative enough early on. We put two seniors up top, and that’s really opened things up. It’s a mix of freshmen and seniors; they’ve got good chemistry.”

The Falcons’ top scorers so far have been seniors Cassie Bowers and Sam Withers. Goal keeper Ella Frantizer has excelled, only allowing 16 goals on the season. Christiaan Thibodeaux has also played well.

“Cassie and Sam have been scoring a lot of goals,” Devine said. “They’re being dangerous and have really allowed us to take off offensively. Ella is one of the top goal keepers in the state. Christiaan helps us out and gives us more depth.”

The Falcons also have a talented group of freshmen, including Piper Leger, Lily Wu-Laudin and Maddie Breaux. They’ve made a big impact in the starting lineup and have stood out to Devine.

“We’ve got a really good group of freshmen that have stepped up for us,” Devine said. “Piper’s been really good. Lily’s really solid and plays multiple positions. Maddie’s really solid — the play goes through her.”

The Falcons had a challenging schedule early on for a school their size, but it seems to be paying dividends so far during district play. They tied Ascension on Saturday in what was an intense game that came down to the wire.

“They (Ascension) are always tough; we know each other well,” Devine said. “We started off slow since we don’t have much time to get ready with a lot of the girls running cross country. We had a stretch of games against Lafayette schools (Lafayette, Comeaux, Teurlings) in which we won two out of three that really helped our power rating.

"We’re right where we want to be. Everything is in our hands.”

Devine said a lot of the improvement has to do with each player focusing on how to improve their game rather than stressing about the team’s record.

“You’ve got to focus on yourself first,” Devine said. “Making the state finals last year was great and gave a lot of experience to such a young team. We’ve done well so far with training. We’re trying to be creative.”

It appears that the Falcons have a shot to make another run at the state title and could end winning it this year with a more experienced team. Devine feels like they have a shot to do it.

“Our mentality is to focus on what we do best,” Devine said. “We know our weaknesses; we can’t let those pop up. We’ve got to execute down the stretch.”